Alan Murray implies that, with his pick of Senator John Edwards for veep, Senator Kerry just made a powerful enemy for himself.

...party wisdom that's been passed down by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert Strauss, and now resides with Democratic economic guru Robert Rubin, is that big business does matter to Democrats. To be successful, a Democratic presidential candidate doesn't need the active support of America's CEOs, but he does need to keep them on the sidelines. Jimmy Carter lost his bid for re-election at least in part because business was determined to dump him. Bill Clinton won election and re-election at least in part because the business community, while not strongly supportive, wasn't threatened by him.

Because he's a trial lawyer? Goodness.

...as a trial lawyer, he never brought the kind of controversial class-action lawsuits that drain millions from a company's coffers but provide only minimal benefits to each member of a large group of plaintiffs.

He's apparently not even the kind of trial lawyer that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has an issue with. There is no mention of any particular litigation brought by Edwards that they find offensive. It's just the fact that he's a trial lawyer. Doesn't that seem a bit petty?

And they weren't going to go after Kerry?

The article points out that it's a visceral response, not a rational one. And no, they probably wouldn't have gone after Kerry--they'd have stayed on the sidelines, as they usually do (there are many Democrat members of the Chamber).

Follow the money. Edwards was heavily funded by the sorts of interests that want more large-scale class action lawsuits. I think the dislike expressed here is pretty rational in its own way.

I think the hit will be minimal, since trial lawyers are a key Dem constituency. Kerry will throw a bone to business for a little damage control and most of the harm will be undone. There's no Veep pick that won't lose at least some votes. The key is to bring in substantially more than you lose. This pick will force Bush to fight more in NC than he had anticipated, which is good strategy, and Edwards is a political rising star, so it's a pick that sends a message that Kerry is confident of himself. From a purely political standpoint it seems like a good choice. Certainly it's a better choice than some of the alternatives. I'm sure the republicans were hoping for Kucinich ("closing the loser gap with France") or Howard "yeargh!" Dean, but Kerry's not that dumb.

I disagree, Andrew. North Carolina remains in the bag for Bush. One of the reasons that Edwards ran for president was that he knew he probably couldn't win reelection there.

The real threat that Edwards poses to Bush isn't in the south, but in the battleground states--places like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. Voters there are used to southerners on the Democratic ticket, after Carter, Clinton and Gore, and he'll take some of the sharp edge off of Kerry's New Englandness.